A Friendship Across Boundaries
School: Beauxbatons
Theme: Charing Cross
Main Prompt: [Any Pairing] Cho Chang/Dudley Dursley
Additional Prompts: [Plot point] Unlikely friendship, [Setting] Muggle playground
Year: 3
Wordcount: 1468
Dudley walked back to his house on auto-pilot after a few hours at the gym, creating a mental checklist of things he had to do upon returning home. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he almost bumped into someone walking in the opposite direction down the pavement.
"Oh, hi. Sorry," Dudley mumbled absent-mindedly, stepping to the side to let the other person pass.
She too had stepped to the side, so they were now standing nearly nose-to-nose. She had straight, black hair that descended almost all the way down her back. The pupils of her eyes were such a dark brown that they nearly matched the black of her irises. Dudley was slightly bewildered at the sight of someone he didn't recognise on his own street—usually there weren't many strangers there.
"Hello, I'm Cho Chang. I just moved into number 6." She introduced herself in a business-like manner, holding out her hand out for him to shake.
"Dudley Dursley. I guess that makes us neighbours, then? I'm in number 4. Nice to meet you." Dudley shook her hand, feeling a bit self-conscious about his sweaty appearance.
"Good to meet you, too," Cho replied, her expression a polite smile.
Dudley stepped aside to let her pass. He gave a nervous laugh when he noticed Cho had done the same.
"Er—I'll see you around then?"
"Yes, I'd expect so," Cho replied as she finally succeeded in stepping around Dudley, before walking briskly down the street.
A bit standoffish, Dudley mused, but at least he wouldn't be constantly pestered, as he had been by the old neighbour.
-o-o-
Cho walked away as quickly as possible without seeming rude. That had certainly been an awkward conversation. For the umpteenth time, she asked herself why she'd chosen to live in a Muggle house.
Oh yes, it was because it was much cheaper. The fact that it was away from the constant reminders of Cedric and what she had lost was an added advantage. She had fought in the war, Voldemort was dead, and frankly, she didn't need reminders of what she had lost. Working in the Wizarding World was difficult enough; she just wanted to be able to go home and not think about it.
They say that time heals all wounds. Cho sniffed disbelievingly — she hadn't found it so. If anything, seeing her classmates in happy relationships, getting married, and having babies made it even worse. She had tried to move on after Cedric; no one could say she hadn't. But no one had ever measured up to Cedric, and her heart still belonged to him.
Still, the whole Muggle thing was a bit annoying. She wasn't one of those people who hated Muggles. But they were rather… eccentric, in her opinion. Just something she'd have to get used to, she supposed.
The one she had just met—Dudley, she reminded herself—seemed friendly enough, if a bit sweaty. But then again, Muggles didn't have Cleaning and Cooling Charms.
Cho walked down the street, past the playground, ducked into an alleyway, and Disapparated away.
-o-o-
Dudley didn't pay much attention to his new neighbour over the next few weeks, other than the standard exchange of greetings as they saw each other.
Then, one evening in late June, as Dudley was returning to his house after work, he heard the sound of someone crying as he walked past the playground. Normally, he would have just continued on his way, but something inside him pushed him to go and see who it was.
He was surprised to find Cho slumped on one of the benches, scrubbing at her eyes with a damp handkerchief. It was a stark contrast to her normally perfectly polished appearance.
"Er—hi. Are you all right?" Dudley asked tentatively, mentally smacking his head as soon as the words were out of his mouth. Of course she wasn't all right; she was crying.
"Sorry, stupid question," Dudley apologised.
Cho's lips curled up slightly at the edges. "No, not really. You're the first one to ask me that all day."
"Is it okay if I sit here?"
Cho nodded.
Dudley sat down on the bench beside her, looking at the empty playground in front of them. The swings drifted slightly in the wind, chains clinking.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Dudley questioned.
Cho did not answer for several moments. It had been a difficult day. Today was the fifteenth anniversary of the Triwizard Tournament—fifteen years since Cedric had died. People were still rejoicing at the fall of Lord Voldemort and fastened on any excuse to do so, but how dare they—how dare they?—forget about those who had died?
She had not expected such kindness from a Muggle—and one who barely knew her, at that—and her first inclination was to refuse to talk about it. But on second thought, she changed her mind. It had been so long since she had been able to talk about it with anybody. And, after all, if she cut out the magic part of it, it wasn't breaking the Statute of Secrecy.
Cho nodded to herself, took a deep breath, and began to talk. "I had a boyfriend, once. He was a really special person, you know? The sort of person that made you realise it wasn't just any typical relationship." As she spoke, she stared straight ahead, subconsciously registering every chip in the blue paint of the monkey bars. "And then he died. Murdered by a madman. And the thing is, if I hadn't encouraged him to—" Cho stopped abruptly, realising that she had been about to tell a Muggle about the Triwizard Tournament. She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts.
"I'm sorry," Dudley said sincerely.
His obvious sympathy made Cho sob even harder. Her tears poured out as she brokenly told Dudley about Cedric—leaving out the part that included magic of course. She had had no idea how therapeutic it would be just to be able to talk, even though she still had to be careful to omit any mention of magic. Dudley made occasional brief comments, but mostly just allowed her to talk.
The red and orange rays of the sunset began to cast a glow over the empty playground. By the time Cho had unburdened herself, the last rays of the sun were fading, and the street lamps had all clicked on.
"We should go home," Dudley said awkwardly, his thoughts churning. When he had encountered Cho crying, he had never expected to hear a story like the one she had just told him. That was the kind of thing you only confided to your closest friends. Still, he knew the decent thing was to try to help her as much as he could.
Cho nodded, drying her eyes and getting up. They walked back to Privet Drive in silence.
When they reached Cho's house, Cho spoke up. "Thank you."
Dudley merely nodded. "It's what friends are for."
"Are we?" Cho asked.
"Are we friends, you mean? I would say so."
Cho nodded, smiling slightly. "Friends."
In the privacy of his house, Dudley sat down heavily on the sofa, trying to organise his thoughts.
When Cho had moved in, Dudley had never expected to gain a new friend. He had not felt like he had got on with his neighbours anyway—not since they had gone into hiding when that Lord Voldey-something was out to kill Harry. He had expected Cho to be no different. And even though he would have to severely edit the story of his childhood to omit any mention of magic, he knew that he had found a kindred spirit in her.
-o-o-
In the neighbouring house, Cho collapsed on the sofa as soon as she had gone inside. She couldn't believe that she had told someone—a Muggle too!—all that about Cedric. For so many years, she had kept her grief and sorrow about Cedric's death to herself. It was a relief to have let it all out.
And the whole thing about being friends, too. Although, thinking about it, Cho supposed that they were friends, especially after telling Dudley almost everything about herself. She wished she could tell him about the Wizarding World and magic, but he was a Muggle, and there was the International Statute of Secrecy.
Cho had never had a Muggle friend; generally, she tried to keep her interaction with Muggles to a minimum, despite the fact that she lived in a Muggle neighbourhood. But even though he was a Muggle and she was a witch, who said they couldn't be friends? Even though she would always have to hide part of her life from him.
Friends. Cho smiled as she basked in the feeling of having someone whom she could call a friend. Even if he was a Muggle.